Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-04-27

spring up on the road itself, and twist and
twirl fiercely round, raising mighty column
Of dust fifty feet or more into the air, where
it hung long after the cause Of it passed, and
then slowly dissolved as its particles foated
to the earth.
Coming along the road, in the immediate
track Of one of these desultory and inexplic-
able whirlwinds, was q man on horseback.
The man looked limp and dirty, and the
horse limper and dirtier. The hot wind had
taken all the bones out of them, as the Kafttrs
sey, which was not very much to be wondered
at, seeing that they had been journeying
through it for the last four hours, without
of saddling. Suddenly the whirlwind, which
had been travelling along pretty smartly,
halted, and the dust, after turning round
few times in the air like a dying top, slowly
The man on the horse halted, too, and con-
templated it in an absent kind of way.
"It's Just like mans life, he said aloud to
his horse, acoming from nobody knows where,
nobody knows why, and making little
column of dust on the worlds highway, and
then passing away and leaving the dust to
fall to the ground again, and be trodden
under foot and forgotten"
The speaker, q stout, well setup, rather ugly
man, apparently on the wrong side Of SO, ith
pleasant blue eyes and 3 reddish, peaked
beard, laughed little at his own sententious
reflection, and then gave his jaded horse
tap with the sjambock in his hand.
aCome on, Blesbok," ne said, "or we shall
never get to old Croft's place tonight. By
Jove! believe that must be the turn"
and he pointed with his whip to little rutty
track that turned from the Wakkerstroom
main roud and stretched away toward a
curious, isolated hill with a large fiat top, that
rose out of the rolling plain some four miles
to the right. "The old Boer said the second
turn" he went on, still talking to himself,
Gbut perhaps he lied am told that
some of them think it good joke to send
an Englishman few miles wrong. Let's
see, they said the place was under the lee Of a
table topped hill, about half an hours ride
from the main road, and that is a table
topped hill, so think will try it. Come on,
Blesbok," and he put the tired nag into
sort Of "tripple," or ambling canter, much
affected by South African horses.
SLife is queer thing" reflected Capt.
John Mel to himself as he slowly cantered
along. snow here am I, at the age Of
assistant to an old Transvaal farmer. It is a
pretty end to all ones ambitions, and to four
teen years work in the army; but it is what
it has to come to, my boy, so you had better
make the best of it."
Just then his cogitations were interrupted,
for or the farther side Of gentle slope there
suddenly appeared an extraordinary sight
Over the crest Of the rise of land, now some
four or five hundred yards away, pony with
o lady on its back came wildly galloping,
and after it, with wings spread and out
stretched neck, a huge cock ostrich was
speeding along, covering twelve or fifteen
feet at every stride of its long legs. The pony
was still twenty yards ahead Of the bird, and
coming toward John rapidly, but strive as it
would it could not distance the swiftest thing
on all the earth. Five seconds passed; the
great bird was close alongside now All!
and John Mel turned sick and shut his eyes
as he rode, for he saw the ostrich's thick leg
fy high into the air and then sweep down
like loaded bludgeon.
Thud! 1t had missed the lady and struck
her horse upon the spine, behind the saddle,
for the moment completely paralyzing it, so
that it fell all Of heap on to the veldt. In
moment the girl ON its back was up and off
toward him, and after her came the ostrich.
Up went the great leg again, but before it
came crashing OH to her shoulders she had
flung herself face downward on the grass
In an instant the huge bird was on top Of
her, kicking at her, rolling over her and
crushing the very life out of her. 1t was at
this juncture that John Mel arrived upon the
scene. The moment the ostrich saw him he
L L. o1,o tbo loI, f1o
ground and began to waltz toward him with
q pompons sort Of step that these birds some
times assume before they give battle. Now,
Capt Mel was unaccustomed to the ways Of
ostriches, and so was his horse, which showed
& strong inclination to bolt; as, indeed, under
other circumstances, his rider would have
been glad to do himself. But he could not
abandon beauty in distress, SO, finding it i'm
possible to control his horse, he slipped of it,
and with his sjambock, or hide whip. in his
hand, valantly faced the enemy. For mo-
ment or two the great bird stood still, blink
ing its lustrous eyes at him and
gently swaying its graceful neck to and
fro. Then all OF a sudden it spread out
its wings and came for him like
a thunderbolt. He sprang to one side, and
was aware Of rustic Of rustling feathers,
and of a vision of thick leg striking down
ward past his head. Fortunately it missed
him and the ostrich sped past like flash.
Before he could turn, however, it was back
and had landed the full weight Of one OF its
awful forward kicks in the broad OF his
back, and away he went head over heels like
shot rabbit In a second he was OH his legs
again, shaken, indeed, but not much the
worse and perfectly mad with fury and pain
At him came the ostrich, and ut the ostrich
went he. catching it blow across the slim
neck with his sjambock that staggered it for
moment. Profiting by the check, he seized
the bird by the wing and held OH like grim
death with both hands. Then they began to
gyrate, slowly at first, then quicker, and yet
more quick, till at last it seemed to Capt.
John Mel that time and space and the solid
earth were nothing but revolving vision
fixed somewhere in the watches OF the night
Above him, like stationary pivot, lowered
the tall, graceful neck, beneath him spun the
top like legs, and in front Of him was soft
black and white mass Of feathers.
Thud and cloud Of stars He was on his
back, and the ostrich, who did not seem to be
affected by giddiness, was OH him, Furnishing
him dreadfully. Luckily all ostrich cannot
kick man very hard when he is flat on the